Information Commissioner's Office

BBC

30 January 2008, Other

The complainant sought access to any documentation relating to the case of Dr David Kelly that had been considered by the BBC Board of Governors. The BBC identified four documents falling within the ambit of that request. Two of those documents were minutes of meetings of the Board of Governors, which were subsequently released to the complainant: the Commissioner considered that one sentence redacted from one of those sets of minutes had been correctly withheld under section 40 of the Act. The other two documents were papers prepared for the first of those two meetings. The BBC took the view that both of these papers were covered by the derogation and therefore outside the terms of the Act: the Commissioner accepted that view. However, he criticised the BBC for breaching sections 10 and 17 of the Act by not informing the complainant, within the timescale specified, either that information was being withheld from the set of minutes or of the relevant exemption concerned.

FOI 10: Upheld